Dr. Di Rosa’s research activity deals with the induction and the maintenance of immunological memory by CD8 T cells, a highly specialized type of leukocytes controlling intracellular infections and tumors. Although several aspects of CD8 T cell memory have been clarified, a complete picture of the events involved in antigen-induced proliferation and differentiation from naive to memory CD8 T cell is not currently available, nor it is known how memory CD8 T cells are steadily maintained as seemingly quiescent cells, and yet are poised to promptly generate a huge progeny of effector CD8 T cells upon secondary response. A better knowledge of CD8 T cell memory is essential for our understanding of human diseases, including cancer, and the development of vaccines and of therapeutic and diagnostic modalities.
Dr. Di Rosa’s research group has demonstrated that the capacity of CD8 T cells to migrate to the bone marrow (BM) and assume long-term residence in this organ is an important aspect of immunological memory. Current research interests of the group are:
1) to better understand the functional and molecular differences between memory CD8 T cells from the BM and those from lymphoid periphery (blood, spleen, lymph nodes, etc);
2) to test the hypothesis that the BM offers two types of niches for memory T cells: one driving self-renewal, the other supporting quiescence, thus echoing the duality of niches for hematopoietic stem cells;
3) to compare different vaccination protocols for their capacity to induce CD8 T cell priming and establishment of CD8 T cell memory in the BM;
4) to investigate the protective function of BM memory CD8 T cells against cancer.
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CURRENT LAB MEMBERS:
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WITHIN IBPM With IBPM Associate members: WITH OTHER INSTITUTIONS Dr. Ugo D’Oro, GSK vaccines, Siena
COLLABORATION TO ORGANIZE IMMUNOLOGY EVENTS IN ROME: Since 2014 Dr. Di Rosa co-organizes the “Roman Immunology Day” (Giornata Romana di Immunologia, GRI), together with Dr. Luca Battistini (Fondazione Santa Lucia), prof. Angela Santoni (Sapienza University) and prof. Vincenzo Barnaba (Sapienza University). The GRI is a 1-day event that is held 2-3 times/year at Sapienza University or at CNR. It is a meeting of the immunology community in Rome usually having 1-2 lectures delivered by foreign invited speakers and 5-6 talks by local speakers. |
RESEARCH POSITIONS 2001-2006: Researcher (Institute of Genetics and Biophysics “A. Buzzati-Traverso”, CNR, Naples, Italy) 2013-2016 Adjunct Professor of Immunology, Msc Degree in Applied Biology for Molecular, Cellular and Patophysiological Research, University of Rome 3, Rome IMMUNOLOGY SOCIETY AND ADVANCED SCHOOL 2017-2020 and 2014-2017 Member of the Board of Directors, Italian Society for Immunology, Cinical Immunology and Allergology (SIICA, www.siica.it) 2019 to the present and 2001-2004: Member of the Board of Directors, Advanced School of Immunology “Ruggero Ceppellini” (www.ceppellini.it) 1993-1995: PhD student /Post-doctoral fellow (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health Bethesda, Maryland, USA) 1990-1995: PhD student (Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology and Pathology, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy) |